Well, it's going up quite a bit...

Brad Richard's cap hit right now is 7.8m and he put up a 90pt season a year ago. Teams like Toronto and the Rangers won't let his cap hit get much lower and I don't see him as the type of guy who'll take 5m to play for a winning organization. I also don't see the Wings needing/wanting a guy like Richards while Datsyuk, Z and Franzen are here.

Why would he want to play those teams? Wouldn't he rather win while getting paid the same?

Apparently he wants to go back to the East and play on an original 6 team.

I've seen Stars fans talk about him also willing to take less to play for a contender. If the guy is serious about winning another cup, and we have cap space, I can't imagine how we're not in the conversation. If his priorities are cash and Eastern conference, we don't stand a chance.

Where did all this Richards talk come from? He'll be 31 in 2 weeks. He's won a cup. Hes going to want a stable, long-term deal. It would be moronic to tie up a ton of money in a long-term deal when we already have 3 forwards in the same age bracket with similar deals.

My only issue with Versus is that they only have one channel. There is no way during the NHL playoffs that they are going to show a game on primetime Vs and then bump a show like The Biggest Loser or The Office off of NBC to show another NHL game playing at the same time.
If Versus is serious about opposing ESPN they need to add another channel and be able to run with more than just the NHL and PBR and don't forget that Comcast is based in Pittsburgh, so if the Pens are playing in the East and the Wings are playing in the West at the same time....Guess which team gets the preferance and guess who's fans get screwed?

My only issue with Versus is that they only have one channel. There is no way during the NHL playoffs that they are going to show a game on primetime Vs and then bump a show like The Biggest Loser or The Office off of NBC to show another NHL game playing at the same time.
If Versus is serious about opposing ESPN they need to add another channel and be able to run with more than just the NHL and PBR and don't forget that Comcast is based in Pittsburgh, so if the Pens are playing in the East and the Wings are playing in the West at the same time....Guess which team gets the preferance and guess who's fans get screwed?

It remains to be seen how it works out in practice but Versus and NBC are owned by Comcast. So they have plenty of channels where they can broadcast games. If it ends up being like the NCAA basketball tourney this year where all of the games were available in their entirety on a television channel then it is a great opportunity for the league. ESPN only has 3-4 real channels and there was no way they'd fill them all up with hockey. At least with a cable company there is the potential for greater distribution.

Well, having no context to what the frameworks of the other offers actually were, all we can really do is toss conjectures about.

That said, in 5 years do you think the NHL would be in a better bargaining position than they are right now? I sure don't. They have every conceivable hammer they are ever going to get.

The NBA's headed towards a stoppage. The NFL's in one. NASCAR's down, Golf is down, and there's nothing really going on in MLB.

On top of all of that, Comcast is almost certainly going to launch an ESPN-ish channel/series of channels, and they need a major sport to headline that.

Within 3-5 years it's entirely possible some combination of teams in Phoenix, Nashville, Florida, Dallas, NY (Islanders), Columbus and Atlanta will be in different (and much smaller) media markets if they are even still in domestic US markets at all.

Right now, the NHL holds a lot more cards than they would in a few more years. Considering their current TV deal was effectively bupkus, locking up a 200 mil per contract for 10 doesn't strike me as a terribly bad idea.

Brad Richard's cap hit right now is 7.8m and he put up a 90pt season a year ago. Teams like Toronto and the Rangers won't let his cap hit get much lower and I don't see him as the type of guy who'll take 5m to play for a winning organization. I also don't see the Wings needing/wanting a guy like Richards while Datsyuk, Z and Franzen are here.

Really? Cause my god, I'd love to see a masterful passer like him on a line with Franzen...

Ebersol said the Versus name will be changed within 90 days to better reflect its association with NBC. The most attractive part of the deal from the NBC side is the exclusive nature it provides.

Bringing back the OLN???

Whether it's a good deal, or not, for the league, I really hate the idea of Versus' current crop of commentators continuing to braodcast games. Eddie O, Engblom, and Roenick make my ears bleed. It's sad when I am rooting for Darren Pang to be on the crew.

I remember Madden used to hop around to whatever channel had the NFL rights. These guys are good hockey broadcasters as is Doc. Eddy O is annoying as is Engblom and don't get me started on Mike Milbury or Pierre. Hopefully this new sports channel conglomeration will bring in some top shelf broadcasting talent. The Community Cable Access crew needs to go!

Yeah Weber would be most excellent but given the way Holland talked about protecting draft picks when there was talk of trading for Bogosian it seems unlikely the DRW would risk giving up that many first round draft picks.

There are a couple good guys who could probably be had for that $3-4.5mm range: Pitkanen, Bieksa, Ehrhoff, Kaberle, Ian White (as an eventual replacement for Rafi). Markov might be an option if Lids retires, otherwise I think he'll probably get a big payday that would put him out of Detroit's range.

I don't think it will happen, but just in terms of idle speculation...

Richards could theoretically allow Z to start shooting to score again, rather than shooting and aiming for tips and redirects the way he has the last year or two. He almost never gets to shoot from open ice inside 40 feet without 6 guys in between him and the net.

He could also theoretically give them a dynamic 2nd scoring line if they put him between Franzen and Bert. Those guys could get into shooting or screening position and Richards could get them the puck in position to do some damage.

It never hurts to add a center that's still young enough to play close to his peak with a Conn Smythe on his resume either.

There are plenty of reasons why it would be nice to add a guy like Richards.